Is driver shaming on Facebook page cyber bullying?

Stuart Cumming
Reporter
Stuart studied journalism at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. He worked briefly at Central Queensland News and Warwick Daily News. He has worked as a reporter at The Chronicle since July 2009.

"A quick read through the posts and comments on the page will show numerous examples of cyber bullying, hate speeches and car vandalism threats," Mr Cooke said.

"The administrators encourage and support this hate mentality toward bad parkers."

The page yesterday featured a post from the administrator posting "I can tell by the way you park your car I hate you" as well as others implying vandalism was a way of punishing those who had parked incorrectly.

Reader poll

Does a bad parking job deserve public shaming?

This poll ended on 07 July 2015.

Current Results

Yes, it will make them park better in future.

48%

No, shaming is unnecessary and can easily lead to cyberbullying.

36%

I wouldn't shame them myself, but at least it'll make people park better.

15%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

Mr Cooke said it seemed the Sunshine Coast was coming down with a bad case of parking rage.

"Badly parked cars have irritated us all, but at the end of the day, what can we do about it?

"The mentality portrayed across social media says we should teach the driver a lesson; perhaps running a key along the side of the car will do the job?

"Perhaps we should bully people to make them better parkers?

"This mentality is perpetuated by social media forums, like the Facebook page mentioned, and is directly fuelling our known issues with road rage."